Chi/ki trick

[Cthulhu]

I've read of one horrible story where wear and tear on a sword resulted in a tragic death.

At some kenjutsu or kendo demonstration in Japan, apparently one of the demonstrators had not been taking proper care of his sword, as his mekugi was worn and basically barely holding the sword together. Making a swift move, the mekugi broke, sending the blade flying free from the tsuka, killing a little girl watching the demo.

That's all I have to say about that.

Cthulhu

 

[Bod]

I also subscribe to the view that chi is a visualisation technique and a model of reality, that enables an approach to learning martial arts skills which a rational approach just wouldn't help with.

I remember a story my Five Ancestors teacher told me. Some years ago he was watching a friend of his who was at the time a relatively inexperienced Wing Chun master performing a demonstration, when near the end the WC master decided to have some of his students break sticks over his arm. So along they come with these 8 foot long and 1 inch by 1 inch thickness and break them on his arms at about half way down the stick.

The crowd began to snigger.

My teacher pulled the WC teacher aside and said 'look this is a joke - you're better than this, let me break the sticks over your arm - just trust me with this one'.

He comes back with an 8 foot stick which is 2 by 2. Swings it down with a snap and breaks the last foot off on the WC guys outstretched arm, then does the same with the same (now 7 foot) stick. Obviously no trick involved. The audience loved it.

Turns out there was a 'trick'. My teacher reckoned he could snap the end off the stick just by whipping it, a reasonably firm outstretched arm would ensure that the stick broke in the right place - his skill only stretched so far. OK so that is a feat in itself.

The point to my story is that the chi was not where the audience thought it was, even though it was there it was somewhere else.

 

[Taiji fan]

Unbendable arm.....yes I was really impressed by this in the beginning...qi? maybe.....body mechanics? definately and a bit of concentration/visualisation helps to fire the stablising muscles..

The other little trick to break the unbendable arm is to break their concentration. Just touch their leg with yoru foot, if they notice the foot touching them you will bend their arm.

we have a much more mystical way of doing it.....you lightly touch on the mid brow point and hey presto...you have zapped their qi, and the arm goes down....:rofl:

 

[zen_hydra]

"Absolutely correct. Hacking doesn't work unless you're using a katana from Shinden Fudo ryu (it's huge, heavy and cuts like an ax). Other katana must slice or they don't cut at all."

From my experience with katana this is not exactly true. While the katana is certainly designed to to cut through a slicing motion, and functions best when doing so, I have in fact been able to cut myself quite nicely through direct pressure against the edge. This was on a traditionally forged blade as well. Just because it isn't made to hack doesn't mean that it can't.

 

[Matt Stone]

Originally posted by Taiji fan
Unbendable arm.....yes I was really impressed by this in the beginning...qi? maybe.....body mechanics? definately and a bit of concentration/visualisation helps to fire the stablising muscles..

we have a much more mystical way of doing it.....you lightly touch on the mid brow point and hey presto...you have zapped their qi, and the arm goes down....:rofl:

We do unbendable arm, but I have to admit that having someone touch me or talk to me never affected my arm at all...

The entire point of the exercise (which seems to be lost on a lot of folks - they forget that training exercises have goals to achieve, they are not goals in and of themselves) is to show that an arm can be relaxed, but strong. When punching, we try to "make an unbendable arm" so the arm doesn't buckle when it makes contact, but is likewise not rigid and stiff.

As for breaking their concentration by touching their forehead... Do you touch it with a fist? At full speed? That'd be guaranteed to change my concentration...

Gambarimasu.
:asian: :tank: :asian:

 

[Taiji fan]

oops sorry...its not the unbendable arm in which you touch the mid brow point...it is holding the arm out away from the body...like in muscle testing.......